ABQ ‘Better Way’ gets national attention
The city program that offers a job to panhandlers is attracting national attention. A recent piece appeared in The Washington Post’s Inspired Life blog under the headline: “This Republican mayor has an incredibly simple idea to help the homeless. And it seems to be working.”
Mayor Richard Berry is quoted throughout the article, and he relates his experience of talking to panhandlers who want a job, not necessarily a handout.
The city and St. Martin’s Hospitality Center launched the program — called “There’s a Better Way” — a year ago. A van picks up panhandlers and pays them $9 an hour to help clean up the city by pulling weeds and handling similar work.
The Washington Post article was picked up and published by newspapers across the country, or at least on their websites. The idea is going global, too: CNN International has scheduled an interview this week, according to the Mayor’s Office.
It’s a nice dose of good news for Berry on his efforts to address people struggling with poverty, and he could use it — especially after the intense criticism earlier this summer over a sting operation in which undercover APD officers sold small amounts of drugs to homeless people, then arrested them. City councilors and others blasted the operation as an embarrassment and waste of resources.
Bernalillo County ballot
Bernalillo County commissioners today will start adding items to the Nov. 8 general election ballot.
They are set to consider asking voters to consider $36.3 million in general-obligation bonds; an urban county charter granting the county home-rule powers, similar to Albuquerque’s; renewal of a property tax for the University of New Mexico Hospital, and a nonbinding advisory question on whether the city ought to hold a vote on the Albuquerque Rapid Transit project.
Notably absent are two city-requested
ballot items — the proposed sick-leave ordinance and changes to the public-financing system for mayoral candidates.
But county officials say they still have time to consider adding those questions to the ballot. They could come up at the commission’s Sept. 13 meeting, which is also the day the ballot is due to the printer.
New county offices?
County officials might make it clear tonight whether they plan to move out of the Downtown office building they share with the city government and water authority.
They have three options on the table: sticking with what they have now, buying the First Plaza Galeria building or Alvarado Square, or studying the possibility of a joint venture with a private developer to build something new.